Browsing by Subject "lapsiperhe"

Objectives. The purpose of this study is to identify factors associated with the housing of the family of children with autism spectrum. Housing services aimed of people with autism spectrum often pay attention to sense sensibility, but in a standard apartment the same consideration might require housing modifications. Since the people with autism spectrum typically have hypersensitivity and/or hyposensitivity of the senses, one of the research questions was: do these atypical sensory reactions increase the need for housing modifications. In addition to that, the research also aimed to chart the housing needs of the families of the children with autism spectrum and what kind of solutions made in the construction stage of homes could reduce the need for housing modifications and increase the suitability of the homes for the families. Methods. The research was conducted as a qualitative research. The data was collected through an online questionnaire. 75 participants responded to the questionnaire, in addition a pilot interview was attached to the data. Responses included a total of 82 autistic children and their families. The data was processed using the Atlas.ti program. At the initial stage, the material was encoded in a transparent manner. In the final stage, the created code words were used to create a thematic network, which displayed the data's most often emerged themes. In addition, the research aimed to chart the need for modifications. Results and conclusions. The data showed that the needs of the families of children with autism spectrum for housing development aspirations are very similar, as other families with children. Concerns about safety and the need for space were two of the three main themes arosen from the data. In addition, one of the themes that arose was the world of sound in homes, especially the sound stimuli. Based on the data multi-family homes experienced a sound insulation problem. Sound insulation investing in the construction phase would serve autistic families and reduce the need for housing modifications. Based on the data, more flexible residential solutions to serve the needs of autistic families and would reduce the need for housing modifications or moving.

Aims.The number of rainbow families, i.e. families with children where at least one parent be-longs to a sexual or gender minority, has been steadily growing alongside the legislative developments in 21st century Finland and the increasingly diverse methods of having children. Previous studies have indicated that having children in rainbow families is a carefully considered and planned process. As this process consists of numerous stages, the chains of events leading to having a child in a rainbow family could be referred to as a family-forming process. The purpose of this study is to obtain knowledge of the special features of the family-forming process from the viewpoint of parents. Taking into account the influence of individuals, their local community and society on these family-forming processes makes it possible to better understand and support this diverse group of families with children. The research questions were: 1. What special features are related to the family-forming processes of the parents of rainbow families in respect of individuals, local community and society? 2. How have societal representations affected the perceptions that people belonging to gender and sexual minorities have on their possibilities for parenthood? Methods. The research data were collected with an online questionnaire and consisted of the responses of 74 parents in rainbow families. The questionnaire was mainly comprised of open questions; multiple-choice questions were additionally used to ask about the respondents' background information. The study was conducted with qualitative methods using theory-guided and material-based content analysis and content itemisation. Results and conclusions. Above all, this study indicated that the family-forming processes of the parents in rainbow families were individual. Nevertheless, some of the respondents shared experiences in the family-forming processes related to the family structure, method of having children and challenges they faced. The research findings indicate that female couples and independent women experience stress due to the costs of fertility treatments. In addition, those wishing to establish a system of shared rainbow family parenthood might fail to find people to co-parent with. Representations of rainbow families might have influenced the family-forming process of some of the respondents. The responses reflected the strong agency and responsibility of individuals. Based on the results, it can be noted that there is still need to develop the legislation concerning rainbow families. Diversity within rainbow families is not always recognised. There is need for more individual encounters that take different family structures into account as well as more versatile representations of rainbow families in different areas of society.

The purpose of this study was to gain more insight into how play becomes a part of life in families with children. The aim is to find out different meanings of play for families in their daily lives and to view at the production of play activities especially from the perspective of children’s agency. Children’s involvement in the production of everyday life has not been studied comprehensively in the field of Home Economics Science. However today’s understanding of children both as active actors in their families and as producers of valid information made the topic relevant and important. The aim of this study was to build a holistic understanding of the phenomenon. Play was considered as a meaningful function for families with children and as the most natural way for children to act. This qualitative study gathered data from four families with children. All the families lived in Helsinki metropolitan area and had each at least one child aged between five to seven years old. The data consisted of stimulated recall interviews with the families and was deepened by the families’ self collected material of their play memories. The families were allowed to actively determine their participation in the study and to choose their own ways of collecting the data. The data were mainly produced in the form of photographs and diary entries. The interviews were conducted in a child-centered way to ensure reaching their perspectives. Participant observation was also used while conducting the interviews. The data were analysed using both qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis methods. Also features of narrative analysis were applied in the analysis process. This study found play to be a central part of everyday life of families with children. Children bring play also in the families’ non-playful activities. Play routines are important for the daily life of families for the flow they bring as well as for the families’ enjoyment and well being. Play and everyday life form a positive circle where they nourish each other. The experiences of community and participation through play proved to be the most important factors in the everyday life of families. Play and players themselves produce family as they play. Play can bring family members together and create family the valuable experience of us. Play can also be seen supporting the child’s agency in family life by providing children tools for participating and making an influence in joint activities.

Objectives. The aim of this study is to find out what factors influence family food choices today and how sustainable eating is reflected in family food choices. In previous studies, food choices can be seen as a complex phenomenon with many different goals. The aim of this study is to reflect how parents experience food choices today. My research brings a new perspective to studying family food choices and answers the current question of how sustainability is reflected in family food choices. Methods. This was a qualitative study. The material was collected in semi-structured theme interviews. One parent of the family was interviewed. Eight families were selected to this study. Since this study focused on the role of sustainability in family food choices of parents of young children, the age of the children was under the Finnish school age of seven. The families had either one or two children. Results and Conclusions. The results show that family food choices were affected by many different goals that might be partly contradictory and sometimes prevent one another from achieving the other. Thus, parents may be considered to be in a type of crossfire when con-sidering food choices. Sustainable eating appeared in three different roles in the families: it was either a guiding factor for family food choices, a somewhat guiding factor, or a meaningless factor for family food choices. Sustainable eating appeared in the food choices, among other things, as favoring of certain diets or products, and the avoidance of certain ingredients or products. The parents of this study had found the eating habits that worked for them. Parents did not experience food choices challenging, although their responses showed some discrepancies when discussing about food choices. These contradictions were brought up by the use of opposites. Intrestingly the parents applied routines as strategies for overcoming the controversies, and as a result, the at times even experienced the potential problems as opportunities.

The everyday life of families with children is seen as a fertile micro community from emotions point of view. Many emotions are being experienced and transferred there. The everyday life is being described as cyclic and multilevel unity, which consists of routines, that are repeated daily and weekly. The food choice is part of everyday life activity and the emotions that impact on food choice in everyday life are previously been researched rather slightly. The research shows, that in addition to positive emotions lots of negative and contradictory emotions are being related to everyday life of families with children. The purpose of this research is to find out, what kind of emotions parents experience in family's food choice situations and into what kind of situations are the positive and negative emotions being attached to. Furthermore, the purpose of this research is to find out, how mother's and father's emotions about food choice differ and what kind of contradictions mother's and father's emotions cause in family's everyday life. The research was executed as a qualitative research and research data was collected by diary approach. Four families with toddler-aged children took part in research and both mothers and fathers completed the diary (n=8). The data was organized by content analysis and analyzed by theme analysis and typology. The results showed that various emotions are being connected with every day life's food choice. Mother's and father's emotions differed clearly. Fathers felt positive emotions when dinner was ready after work and guilt from not making it home early enough or from not being there to impact on food choice. Mothers felt emotions of success inter alia when they became aware that their food choice promoted health or when the child agreed to eat what was offered. Negative emotions were experienced when weekdays were busy and there wasn't enough time to impact on food choice. This research gave a different point of view to observe the everyday life of families with children and an opportunity to understand reasons behind parents emotions better. On the other hand, this research gave a new, emotions acknowledging angle also on nutrition promotion.

Financial literacy is an important civic skill that people need in everyday life and in managing their financial matters. Financial skills and financial education can be passed from one generation to another through observation and model learning. This thesis uses Bandura’s social learning theory, which helps deepen knowledge about the intergenerational financial education. The purpose of this study was to find out the means of financial education of highly educated parents and its intergenerational nature. The aim of the thesis was to find out what kind of means parents have for financial education and what kind of financial education they received in their childhood family. This research helps to understand the methods of financial education and to notice possible development directions for financial education. The study was made with a qualitative research strategy and the research method was oral history. The research participants recalled the ways of financial education they received in their childhood. Data consisted of nine interviews that were conducted by telephone. The participants were highly educated parents, between the ages of 33 and 54, and they had at least one child under 18 living at home. The data was analyzed with a theory-driven content analysis using Bandura’s social learning theory as an aid. The main result of the study is that financial education is intergenerational, but the results also showed exceptions. Parents’ financial education appeared through four themes, which were earning money, saving money, money talk and models of consumer behaviour. Parents felt that saving and earning money were the most important subjects to be taught and these were also the strongest intergenerational themes. These were used to influence the child’s attitudes and values about the money. Nowadays finance plays an important role in our everyday lives and home financial education has a big role in children’s financial skills in the future. Children adopt behavioral habits, values and skills from their parents. Parents could be given more support for their children’s financial education. It is important to pay attention to both home and school financial education.